The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1887-11-09
THE POLICE AND MILITIA.

The Anarchists have been particularly bit
ter and violent in their denunciations of the
police and the militia. Other classes have
come in for their share of maledction, but
none to quite the extent as those named.
The government, the courts and the laws have
all been viciously denounced, but the police
and militia more violently than any. Why is
this9 Are the police and the militia to be re-
garded as public enemies9 Are they danger
to public or private liberty Have they
ever knowingly or wantoniy interfered with
anybody's rights, or been used by the legal
authorities for such purposeg Certainly
not. Nothing of the kind has ever happened.
The Anarchists hate the police and the mi
ltia because they are conservators of the
peace, and friends of law and order.
In this country the police and the militia
are the main dependence Of society for the
enforcement of law and the preservation of
order. They are the mainstay of the legal
authorities in Furnishing crime, preserv-
ing public order and protecting
private rights. Does any law abiding
citizen fear the police or militia, or find it
necessary to denounce and threaten them7
Not at all. Good citizens everywhere regard
both with the most friendly feelings The
police we have with US always and like many
other blessings, we used to them that
we would only r5alize their value by their re-
moval Imagine the condition of Chicago,
indianapolis, or any other city without a
police force. They sometimes make mistakes,
and do not always meet the exacting and I'M
reasonable demands of the public, but how
much they do accomplish would be best ap-
preciated if they were done away with. Their
mere presence is the greatest possible pro-
lection to society and menace to criminals.
The militia are the police reserve, the
organized people themselves, ready to assist
the regular police in the enforcement of the
laws when necessity requires or the govern
ment demands They have never shown the
slightest disposition to interfere with the
rights of the people, and no State or Governor
has ever tried to use them for such a purpose
It is a fact singularly characteristic of the
American people ana IN the nlgheSt degree
creditable to their law-abiding instincts, that
the militia have always been prompt to re-
spond to the call of the legal authorities in
the enforcement of law, and have
always shown themselves superior to
popular clamor or threats Such a mill
tia as we have in this country is a great pro-
lection and safeguard to law, and order and
liberty. A very cursory reflection shows
that these two, the police and the militia,
are about the only organized forces we have
for the enforcement of law, and are the great
est possible protection to society. They pro-
tect the poor we'll as the rich, the working
man as well as the capitalist, the lowest and
humblest as well as the highest in the land
because they represent the law, which en-
braces and protects all alike.
: Here, then, we have the secret of the Anar-
chists' hatred of the police and the militia
It is because they represent law and order
and stand like a stone wall between the
Anarchists and the accomplishment of their
desires